Cheetham Hill Mosque offers tours during Ramadan

A Mosque in Cheetham Hill is offering free tours during Ramadan - plus a three course dinner with 300 people.

The UKIM Khirza Mosque on Cheetham Hill Road wants to welcome as many people as possible during the month-long religious period.

Visitors are taken on a brief tour of the huge domed building before joining around 300 worshippers for a meal including samosas and bhajis, kebabs, curries and traditional Asian sweets.

So far Royal Mail staff, local police officers and groups of teachers have already taken up the invitation - but anyone can contact the mosque to go along over the next two weeks.

During Ramadan, Muslims fast during daylight hours, enjoying their first meal, known as Iftar, at dusk.

Khirza Mosque volunteer and trustee Sajjad Amin, 35, said: “We have had a really good response so far, for many of the people on the tour it’s the first time they’ve been to a mosque.

“The idea behind the tours is sharing the occasion of Ramadan with our neighbours and helping to have understanding in the community.

“When people come along and you get talking you find out there’s not a huge amount between us that separates us.”